Dilip Cherian Blog

Cherian's Choice

Under the ceaseless gaze of social media, it is increasingly difficult for babus to slip under the radar. Nothing escapes its stern scrutiny, as former DGP, Uttar Pradesh, O.P. Singh recently discovered. The former 1983-batch IPS officer has been unwilling to surrender his official bungalow even after retirement. Many others too have done this in the past, including several politicians, as Dilli very well remembers, but Singh’s misfortune was that his reluctance to shed the trappings of his office after retirement caught the attention of social media ‘activists’ and some journalists who took no time to denounce him. Singh has been accused of leading an aristocratic lifestyle and apparently his “arrogant ways”. At least part of the attention being devoted to Singh, now retired, is his alleged proximity to UP chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. It is a fairly well-known fact and may account for the ‘privileges’ Singh continues to enjoy even after hanging up his boots. But veteran babu-watchers in the capital note that Singh’s case is hardly surprising, considering how tough it is for the authorities to get posh bungalows in Lutyens Delhi vacated by VIP squatters, be they netas or babus. Singh is merely following a well-trodden path, cleared by many others before him.